ES2927039T3 - Steam iron comprising a heating body provided with a vaporization chamber and an ironing surface in thermal relationship with the heating body - Google Patents

Abstract

Steam iron comprising a heating body (3) comprising a vaporization chamber (32) and an ironing surface (52) in thermal relationship with the heating body (3), the ironing surface (52) being intended to enter in contact with the clothes to be ironed and being advantageously provided with steam outlet holes (50), the heat produced by the heating body (3) being transmitted to the ironing surface (52) by conduction through at least two elements (3, 4) of the plate placed one against the other, characterized in that the two elements (3, 4) are in direct contact with each other at at least one contact point (40A) having a contact surface less than 2 mm 2 and preferably less than 1 mm 2 . <p>****PCT/US2019/043329 (Automatic translation with Google Translate, without legal value)

Description

DESCRIPTION

Steam iron comprising a heating body provided with a vaporization chamber and an ironing surface in thermal relationship with the heating body

The present invention relates to a steam iron comprising a heating body comprising a vaporization chamber and an ironing surface in thermal relationship with the heating body, the ironing surface being intended to come into contact with the clothes to be ironing and being advantageously provided with steam outlet holes, and refers more particularly to an iron in which the heat produced by the heating body is transmitted to the ironing surface by conduction through at least two elements of the iron placed against each other during plate assembly.

It is known, from the patent application FR 2798403 filed by the applicant, a steam iron comprising a soleplate comprising a heating body comprising a vaporization chamber for the production of steam and an ironing surface in thermal relation to the body heater, the ironing surface being intended to come into contact with the clothes to be ironed and being provided with steam outlet holes. In this document, the ironing surface is carried by a cover that is attached to the heating body, the heat produced by the heating body being transmitted to the ironing surface by conduction through the heating body and then through a cover, the latter being last in contact with the heating body at the level of the contact zones constituted by walls of distribution channels and by heat transfer bolts.

An iron construction of this type makes it possible to limit the thermal flux that is established towards the ironing surface in order to have a temperature of the heating body in the vicinity of the vaporization chamber that is sufficient to guarantee the vaporization of the water even when the ironing surface is at a minimum temperature that allows delicate fabrics to be ironed.

However, such a construction has the drawback of resorting to bolts carried by the casting which are relatively bulky and which locally ensure a high thermal conduction. Such bolts therefore create significant constraints on casting design and can cause significant hot spots on the ironing surface.

An object of the present invention is also to propose a steam iron that overcomes these drawbacks and that has a structure that is simple and cheap to make. The documents FR1424320 A, EP0380896 A1 and EP1772551 A1 disclose steam irons.

To this end, the object of the invention is a steam iron comprising a heating body comprising a vaporization chamber and an ironing surface in thermal relationship with the heating body, the ironing surface being intended to come into contact with the clothes to be ironed and being advantageously provided with steam outlet holes, the heat produced by the heating body being transmitted to the ironing surface by conduction through at least two elements of the iron placed one against the other, characterized in that the two elements are in direct contact with one another at the level of at least one contact point that has a contact surface of less than 2 mm2 and preferably less than 1 mm2.

Two plank elements placed against each other are understood to mean two constituent elements of the plank that have been manufactured independently of each other and then placed against each other during the assembly of the plank. Such a characteristic allows a contact point to be established locally that diffuses little energy by thermal conduction while ensuring a mechanical union between the two elements.

According to another feature of the invention, the two elements are in direct contact with one another at several contact points, all the contact points having a contact surface of less than 2 mm2 and preferably less than 1 mm2.

Such a characteristic makes it possible to distribute thermal diffusion by conduction between the two elements at the level of several contact points with low thermal diffusivity for a more homogeneous distribution of heat and better mechanical resistance between the two elements.

According to yet another feature of the invention, the plate comprises at least 3 contact points and preferably between 10 and 30 contact points between the two elements.

According to another feature of the invention, the contact points are located at the end of projections that protrude from a surface of at least one of the elements.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the projections are obtained by means of a stamping process.

Such a characteristic allows the projections to be made in a simple and economical way.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the projection or projections protrude by a height greater than 0.3 mm and advantageously between 0.4 mm and 0.8 mm.

Such a height makes it possible to have a space that has a height between the two elements that makes it possible to limit the thermal diffusion by radiation.

According to another feature of the invention, a steam distribution chamber is arranged between the two elements. Such a feature makes it possible to take advantage of the space arranged between the two elements to circulate the steam and distribute it over the entire surface of the elements.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, a sealing gasket is arranged between the two elements at the periphery of the distribution chamber.

Such a feature makes it possible to prevent steam from escaping at the periphery of the two elements.

According to another feature of the invention, the soleplate comprises a plate that is placed against the heating body, the said contact point(s) being located at the interface between the heating body and the plate.

Thus, the heating body and the plate constitute the two elements of the iron that are placed one against the other and have small surface contact points.

According to another feature of the invention, the contact points are distributed along the periphery of the ironing surface.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the plate is made of aluminium.

Such a feature makes it possible to ensure strong thermal conduction in the thickness of the plate.

According to another feature of the invention, the iron comprises a cover, advantageously made of stainless steel, which is attached to the plate, the ironing surface being supported by the cover.

This characteristic makes it possible to combine both good temperature homogeneity on the ironing surface thanks to the good heat diffusion through the aluminum plate and good scratch resistance of the ironing surface when the cover is It is made of a scratch-resistant material such as stainless steel.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the plate is fixed to the heating body by means of screws, the sheath being fixed to the plate by folding the edges of the sheath over the edges of the plate.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the heating body is a cast iron that contains an electrical resistance. According to another characteristic of the invention, the electrical resistance is the only heating element of the iron.

The objectives, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood after the description given below of a particular embodiment of the invention, presented by way of non-limiting example, referring to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a plate according to a particular embodiment of the invention; figure 2 is a view in longitudinal section of the soleplate of figure 1;

Figures 3A and 3B are enlarged views of the sectional view of Figure 2 respectively at the level of a contact point and a fixing screw;

figures 4 and 5 are exploded perspective views of the soleplate of figure 1;

figure 6 is a view from above of the sole of figure 2;

figure 7 is a perspective view from above of the plate mounted on the plate of figure 1,

- Figure 8 is a sectional view of the plate along the VMI-VIM line of Figure 7.

Figure 1 represents an iron comprising a casing 1 of plastic material comprising a handle and a heel on which the iron can rest vertically. The casing 1 contains, in a manner known per se, a tank provided with a filling hole 10 and includes a cord 11 for powering the iron through a 220V domestic network.

According to figures 2 to 6, the iron comprises a soleplate 2 comprising a heating body 3 made of molded aluminum that includes a tubular electrical resistance 30 whose power can reach 2300 W and which is the only heating element of the iron. The supply of this electrical resistance 30 is regulated by means of a thermostat, not represented in the figures, which is fixed in a housing 31 made on an upper face. of the heating body 3, the thermostat being advantageously regulated around a setpoint temperature of 165°C that cannot be modified by the user.

As can be seen in figures 4 and 6, the upper face of the heating body 3 comprises protruding walls that define a vaporization chamber 32 fed with water from the tank by a pump or a drop-by-drop drainage pipe, not shown in the figures. , and steam distribution channels 33 that extend along the periphery of the vaporization chamber 32, these channels 33 joining at the front end of the heating body 3.

The channels 33 include passages 33A that pass through the heating body 3 and open into a cavity arranged on the underside of the heating body 3 that forms a steam distribution chamber 34 .

The soleplate 2 comprises, below the heating body 3, an intermediate plate 4, advantageously made of aluminium, the upper face of which comes into contact with the heating body 3 and defines a delimiting wall for the steam distribution chamber 34 .

The sole 2 also includes a metallic sheath 5, advantageously made of stainless steel, which is placed against the underside of the plate 4, the metallic sheath 5 coming into direct contact with the plate 4 and being advantageously fixed to the latter by folding the peripheral edge of the sheath 5 around the peripheral edge of the plate 4.

The cover 5 comprises, in a manner known per se, a flat lower surface defining an ironing surface 52 intended to come into contact with the clothes to be ironed. This ironing surface 52 is advantageously provided with more than two hundred steam outlet holes 50 that have a passage section of less than 4 mm2, as described in more detail in patent application EP 1772551 filed by the applicant. The steam outlet holes 50 are advantageously distributed according to a first and a second network of steam outlet holes 50 separated from one another by an intermediate area 51 devoid of steam outlet holes.

As can be seen in figures 3A, 4 and 5, the plate 4 comprises several projections 40 whose upper ends form contact points 40A between the plate 4 and the heating body 3, the heating body 3 comprising, opposite each of these projections, a stop 35 provided with a flat surface against which the projection 40 rests when the plate 4 is assembled against the heating body 3.

These projections 40 are preferably produced by a stamping process on the plate 4 and have a substantially spherical upper surface.

Each projection 40 advantageously projects a height of the order of 0.6 mm with respect to the upper surface of the plate 4. A silicone gasket 6, illustrated in figures 5 and 7, is interposed between the plate 4 and the heating body 3 around the entire circumference of the distribution chamber 34 to ensure that it is sealed against steam, this silicone gasket 6 also having a thickness of 0.6 mm.

The upper end of each projection 40 forms a contact point 40A having a contact surface of less than 2 mm2 and preferably less than 1 mm2. In the particular embodiment illustrated in the figures, the plate 4 has a thickness of the order of 2 mm and comprises seventeen projections 40 distributed around the periphery of the plate 4, the projections 40 presenting a contact surface with the stops 35 made up of a circular surface with a diameter of the order of 1 mm.

Preferably, the contact surfaces of the projections 40 are the only areas in which the plate 4 is directly in contact with the heating body 3 so that heat transfer by conduction between the heating body 3 and the plate 4 takes place. only by these projections 40.

Advantageously, the plate 4 is fixed against the heating body 3 by three screws 7, visible in figure 5, one of the screws 7 being arranged in the vicinity of a front tip of the soleplate 2 and the other two screws being arranged symmetrically on the edge of the plate 4 on the back of the sole 2.

As can be seen in more detail in figure 3B, the plate 4 is not in direct contact with the heating body 3 at the level of the screws 7 in order to limit heat transfer by conduction in this area.

According to FIG. 5, the heating body 3 also includes ribs 36, 37 protruding into the steam distribution chamber 34, these ribs 36, 37 being located in a central area of the soleplate 2 and facing a central area 41 of the plate 4 devoid of openings. The height of these ribs 36, 37 is adapted so that they do not come into direct contact with the plate 4 when the plate 4 is assembled to the heating body 3 with the projections 40 resting against the stops 35, filling a silicone joint, not represented in The figures show the resulting space between the ribs 36, 37 and the plate 4 to ensure a mechanical connection between the plate 4 and the heating body 3, in addition to the fixing screws.

In the particular example of embodiment illustrated, the ribs 36, 37 are made up of a first rib 36 having a general U-shape and a second rib 37 having a general V-shape, each of these ribs 36, 37 having a throat that forms a cavity into which the gasket is injected of silicone, this joint covering the ribs 36, 37 at a height of 0.5 mm to come into contact with the plate 4 and contribute to fixing the latter.

The plate 4 includes, on both sides of the central zone 41, openings 42, 43 that allow the vapor to diffuse from the distribution chamber 34 towards the cover 5, the cover 5 comprising, opposite each opening 42, 43, the least one steam outlet hole 50.

Advantageously, most of the openings 42 of the plate 4 have a diameter that substantially corresponds to the diameter of the steam outlet hole 50 of the cover 5 that is opposite, so that the plate 4 is in direct contact with the cover 5 in the vicinity of the steam outlet holes 50 and can transmit heat by conduction in this area.

However, certain openings 43 of the plate 4 can have a larger surface area to locally limit conductive heat transfer. Thus, in the illustrated example, the plate 4 comprises three larger openings 43 located respectively near the front toe, in the central area of the sole 2 and near the rear part of the plate 4, each feeding of these openings several steam outlet holes of the cover 5.

The iron made in this way has the advantage of having a cover 5 provided with an ironing surface that presents a relatively homogeneous temperature of the order of 140°C when the vaporization chamber 32 is at a temperature of the order of 165°C, which makes it possible to produce a continuous flow of steam of the order of 35 g/min.

Indeed, in the construction of the sole 2 made in this way, the thermal transfer by conduction between the heating body 3 and the plate 4 is limited only to the contact points 40A located at the end of the projections 40, the latter presenting a surface very reduced, the rest of the heat transfer being carried out by radiation through the distribution chamber 34. The large number of contact points 40A and their small contact surface allow excellent control of the heat flow that is established by conduction between the heating body 3 and plate 4. In addition, the large number of contact points 40A also makes it possible to obtain good control of the distance that separates the bottom of the cavity formed by the distribution chamber 34 and the plate 4, which makes it possible to have an excellent control of the thermal flow that is established by radiation between the heating body 3 and the plate 4.

Finally, such contact points 40A, carried by projections 40 made by stamping on the plate 4, have the advantage of being very cheap to make. They also have the advantage of being very compact, which makes it possible to obtain a very compact sole construction 2 .

On the other hand, the presence of the aluminum plate 4, which has a high thermal conductivity, also makes it possible to contribute to improving the uniformity of the temperature at the level of the ironing surface. Indeed, if a temperature gradient appears between different points of the plate 4, it is quickly attenuated by the heat transfer that is then established in the thickness of the plate 4.

An iron is thus obtained which has a compact construction and is economical to implement and which has a substantially constant temperature at the level of the ironing surface, of the order of 140°C, for ironing all types of fabric without damaging it. In addition, a construction of this type makes it possible to maintain the temperature of the heating body in the vicinity of the vaporization chamber at around 165 °C, which makes it possible to produce a continuous steam of the order of 35 g/min, sufficient to ensure a high efficiency of ironing.

In a variant embodiment not shown, the projections in relief can be made by molding, the latter being able to be made on the heating body instead of the plate.

In an embodiment variant not shown, the aluminum plate/stainless steel cover assembly may be replaced by a single aluminum plate whose lower face directly constitutes the ironing surface.

In a variant embodiment of the invention, the iron may include a heating element whose power is limited to 1600 W when the voltage of the domestic electrical network is of the order of 120 V.

Claims (15)

1. Steam iron comprising a heating body (3) comprising a vaporization chamber (32) and an ironing surface (52) in thermal relationship with the heating body (3), the ironing surface (52) being intended for to come into contact with the clothes to be ironed, and being advantageously provided with steam outlet holes (50), the heat produced by the heating body (3) being transmitted to the ironing surface (52) by conduction through of at least two elements (3, 4) of the plate placed against each other, characterized in that the two elements (3, 4) are in direct contact with each other at the level of at least one contact point (40A) having a contact surface of less than 2 mm2 and preferably less than 1 mm2. Iron according to claim 1, in which the two elements (3, 4) are in direct contact with one another at several contact points (40A), all contact points (40A) presenting a surface of contact less than 2 mm2 and preferably less than 1 mm2. Iron according to any one of claims 1 to 2, comprising at least 3 contact points (40A) and preferably between 10 and 30 contact points (40A) between the two elements (3, 4). Iron according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the contact points (40A) are located at the end of projections (40) protruding from a surface of at least one of the elements (3, 4) . Plate according to claim 4, in which the projections (40) are obtained by a stamping process. Plate according to any one of Claims 4 to 5, in which the said projection(s) (40) project a height greater than 0.3 mm and advantageously between 0.4 mm and 0.8 mm. Iron according to any one of claims 1 to 6, in which a steam distribution chamber (34) is arranged between the two elements (3, 4). Iron according to claim 7, in which a gasket (6) is arranged between the two elements (3, 4) at the periphery of the dispensing chamber (34). Iron according to any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising a soleplate (2) comprising a plate (4) placed against the heating body (3) and that the said contact point(s) (40A) are located in the interface between the heating body (3) and the plate (4). Iron according to claim 9, in which the contact points (40A) are distributed along the periphery of the ironing surface (52). Iron according to any one of claims 9 to 10, in which said plate (4) is made of aluminium. Iron according to claim 11, comprising a cover (5), advantageously made of stainless steel, which is added to said plate (4), the ironing surface being supported by said cover (5). Iron according to claim 12, in which the plate (4) is fixed to the heating body (3) by means of screws, the cover (5) being fixed to the plate (4) by folding the edges of the cover (5) on the edges of the plate (4). Iron according to any one of Claims 9 to 13, in which the plate (4) comprises openings (42, 43) arranged opposite the steam outlet holes (50) of the cover (5). Iron according to any one of claims 1 to 14, in which the heating body (3) is a cast iron containing an electrical resistance (30).